Sabres to play Mannheim in preseason

The Buffalo Sabres will play an exhibition game against German pro team Adler Mannheim in October prior to opening their regular season with two games in Europe.

The preseason game will be played on Oct. 4 at Mannheim, the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association announced Tuesday. It will be a homecoming for Sabres forward Jochen Hecht, who is from Mannheim and played five seasons with Adler.

Mannheim lost a 3-2 shootout to San Jose in a preseason game last year.

The Sabres join Anaheim, the New York Rangers and Los Angeles in opening their respective seasons with games played at Helsinki, Stockholm and Berlin.